Green Living Blog: The Refrigerator Blues

July 8, 2019

As if selling a house and moving to a new place isn’t complex enough, the day we closed the sale of our house in Saskatoon the fridge died. Since we had agreed to sell it with working appliances, we needed to fix this problem ASAP.
Being a waste-not kind of family, we tried repair first. We had a well-rated appliance repair company come take a look. Unfortunately, even the correct parts only brought it weakly back to life. After a few days, it wasn’t staying cold and then started making an awful electrical smell. We unplugged it, attempt failed.
Our second choice was to go used. Thankfully, there is a second-hand appliance store not too far from where we live, and for a small fee they were able to take away the old fridge for recycling and bring us a used one with a six month warranty. Sold.
We have now moved to our new place, but unfortunately the fridge saga continues. Our new place’s fridge is less than spectacular. Although it cools fine, the seal is broken, so it builds up condensation on the door, makes the strangest noises when it runs (it sounds like song birds dive bombing the kitchen) and is an incredible energy hog. It still has its Energuide sticker inside the door – and it is rated at 683kwh/year. We can buy a brand new Energy Star fridge, same size and brand, for $700 that uses half that much electricity. Assuming it lasts 14 years (fairly plausible) it will pay for itself in energy savings. Also sold.
While I’m glad the new fridge will pay for itself, its also sad that I can only expect about 14 years out of a new fridge. The fridge that I grew up with, a 1950’s-esque General Electric, is still going strong at my mom’s place. I suspect it uses a lot more energy than a fancy new Energy Star fridge, but there is something to be said for a cooling appliance that has lasted for well over half a century. Either way, we are glad that our broken fridges can be recycled, and that we’ve found good options to replace them. Here’s hoping we have a least a decade and a half before we have to do it again.